You thought traffic was bad last weekend...

Sydney should expect more traffic disruptions during the upcoming APEC summit in September, with some train services through the Sydney CBD scheduled to be cancelled due to trackwork.

The NSW Opposition fears trackwork planned for Sydney's rail network at the same time as the APEC conference will cause even greater traffic chaos in the city than the visit by US Vice-President Dick Cheney last weekend.

The week-long Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit will attract 21 world leaders to Sydney, including US President George Bush, along with the biggest security operation ever seen on these shores.

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Mr Cheney's visit to Sydney last weekend sparked anger when it caused major disruptions to the inner-city and adjacent suburbs, with traffic reduced to a crawl when roads, including the Harbour Bridge, were temporarily closed so Mr Cheney's 20-vehicle motorcade could make its way to scheduled meetings.

NSW Opposition Transport spokeswoman Gladys Berejiklian said some trains would be cancelled while CityRail carries out trackwork on September 8 and 9.

The Premier Morris Iemma today acknowledged that Sydneysiders would be faced with delays, but said the government was working to minimise disruptions.

"There will be inconvenience," Mr Iemma told reporters.

"But the preparations we are making are designed to do two things, protect the international leaders that are coming here and protect our people."

He said a public holiday would be in place to ensure that disruption and inconvenience was minimised.

"We are about planning to minimise that and at the same time provide the maximum security for our people as well as our visitors," he said.

"When these leaders are here it will lead to absolute bedlam," Mr Gallacher told the Seven Network.

The APEC summit poses the biggest challenge to the nation's security and counter terrorism agencies in Australia's history but short-term disruptions will be a small price to pay during the summit, Attorney General Philip Ruddock said today.

"APEC of course does offer a great challenge, there is no doubt," he told the annual National Security Australia forum in Sydney today.

"It is the largest and most complex dignitary protection event in our history.

"We need to take pride in the fact that tourists and official visitors equally can be confident in their safety when they visit Australia."

The $166 million invested in APEC security operations was an obligation Australia accepted when it took on the hosting role, Mr Ruddock said.

RailCorp Chief Executive Vince Graham sounded a warning to APEC organisers and said Sydney's CBD stations could be shut down at the request of security agencies.

"I think it is important to remember that the London underground bombings did occur during a G8 meeting of world leaders in London at that time," Mr Graham told Network Seven.